Hello, Save Me?
by Orange H
Summary: Telephone calls at half-past three in the morning usually spell trouble, especially when they're waking up someone who can summon fire at will. However, when the call takes a turn worse than Roy could have expected, he, Hawkeye, and the local police force are left to juggle a bunch of highly skilled dogs, ten thousand dollars, and Edward Elric's life in less than an hour. K lang.
1. Chapter 1

Colonel Roy Mustang had been in a deep sleep, delightfully accompanied by a dream in which he and a beautiful woman were having a picnic of some sort, when the world around him was shattered by the shrill, incessant ringing of the telephone beside his bed. The dream dissipated as Roy groggily opened his eyes, and tried to rub the crust out of them. He reached for the telephone on his nightstand while simultaneously glancing across the room at the glowing numbers of his clock, and upon seeing the time fought the urge to slam the phone back onto its receiver.

Who the _hell_ was stupid enough to call a man who could willingly summon flames from his fingertips at the late hour of 3:27 AM?

He knew, though, that such a late call inevitably meant something important, since the only people who had his home number was his team, his foster mother, and maybe a few stray people he had let his number fall into the hands of - the only other method of reaching Roy so late at night via his phone would be to look it up in his military records, but the chances of that happening were low, and since everyone he knew was fully aware of the Death King State he went into when he got less than eight hours of sleep, he answered the phone both highly agitated and highly curious.

"Hurro?" Roy slurred, and immediately cleared his throat. "Colonel Roy Mustang speaking."

There was a hushed whispering on the other side of the line, and he was about to label it a prank call and hang up before he heard the familiar voice of a particular Elric on the line.

"Oh, uh, um, hey, Mustang - er, Colonel."

Of course. Who else? Mustang sat up in bed and turned the lamp beside his bed on as he rubbed his eyes in weariness and annoyance, the curiosity having dissipated. "This better be good, Fullmetal." Man, would the older man kick the teenager's ass tomorrow if it was anything less of a Philospher's Stone, someone dying, or his dorm burning down. No, you know what, scratch that. Mustang didn't _care_ if Ed's dorm was burning down. He could find a hotel and wait for another four hours to call.

"Um, yeah kind of. So, funny story - ow, _shit!"_ Mustang's eyes narrowed at the loud _thud_ that sounded suspiciously like a fist, immediately aware that something was wrong on the other end as hushed voices impatiently urged the teenager on. As Roy waited for Ed to continue, he swiftly slid out of bed and started to get dressed, silently thanking himself for buying the cordless telephone.

"Okay, so, funny thing," Edward said, and Mustang hurriedly pulled on his pants at the urgency and anxiousness in the boy's voice which would usually be placed behind at least some sort of facade. "You were right, for once, and I was wrong, and I'msorrybutyouneedtogivethemtenthousanddollarsorelsethey'regonnashootmybrainsout." Edward's voice trailed off into something just short of a whimper, and the last phrase was all connected as one word, though Mustang understood with dread what he had said. "Um, by the way, Colonel, you're on speaker."

"Okay, and might I ask who I'm speaking with and _why _I should give them a penny?" Mustang's voice turned cold and business-like, and even though he was aching to comfort an obviously distressed subordinate, he knew now was not the time to mess around; though he did feel bad at Ed's silent shock at the 'why-should-I-reason-with-you' part when it was obviously implied that the golden-haired boy was not a big enough bargaining chip.

Of course, Mustang already _knew_ who was on the other side of the phone, and that was why he could feel worry coursing through him like fire as he quickly grabbed a pen and notepad so he could write down any information, now being fully clothed. Earlier that day, Ed had come bursting into his office as he was having a discussion with Hughes about the most recent bandits called the 'Green and Gouged Bandits', who were known for their severity in the physical sense and their greed in the monetary sense. Edward, sensing a sense of adventure, had implored more about it, and then been asked to be assigned to them as a mission, claiming he could enjoy beating up bad guys instead of finding a dead end on the Philosopher's Stone, for a change.

Naturally, Roy had declined, since any sort of crime group that lasted more than a week in Central equated them on the level of serial killers, and considering that they had made it this far with no alchemists in their group (but the extended knowledge of how to kidnap and subdue them), going as far as to threaten to court-martial the boy if he even tried to _smell _where they were. Ed had promptly chucked his latest report onto the desk, narrowly missing Hughes, and as he stomped out the door said something along the lines of 'Colonel Bastard, hogging all the fun for yourself!' without even acknowledging Hughes' presence, probably more out of hope that he wouldn't start gushing to him about his daughter than out of desire to be rude.

Nonetheless, an hour later he had found the Major sniffing out reports about the bandits among some of the lower-ranked privates that he knew he could abuse, and having found out that they were sufficiently homicidal, strutted away from the oncoming colonel with a wave of his hand and a 'Don't worry, I won't do anything stupid'.

Obviously he had broken that promise, since he was now being held at gunpoint by said group and valued at ten thousand dollars.

"I'm sure you've heard of us", a gruff voice said on the other end. "So I'll cut to the chase. He put up a damn good fight, but if you want him back _alive_", the villian said with the stress on the last word, "You'll need to meet us in one hour at the old abandoned saw factory on East Street. Just you and the money, or the kid dies."

"Hey, not dying would be nice!" Called a distant Ed, who received another _thump_ and a small whimper of pain, to which Roy felt his blood boil.

"Do you understand?"

"Yes." Roy answered coldly. "I'd like to speak with Edward one more time, please. I need to make sure you're not just replaying a recording in the background."

The man huffed, and the receiver rustled and he guessed the phone was being passed to his subordinate, whose chances of surviving the night were uncomfortably slim. "Ed, you are in _so _much trouble when I get you back", Mustang growled, but without his usual heat. His true intention, of course, was not to give the boy any more stress, but see if the boy could subtly communicate something that would help the situation.

"They actually found me! I wasn't even looking for the bastards!" Ed cried in his defense in such indignation and desperation that Roy knew instinctively that the boy wasn't lying, and after another blow to the head he said, "I was just genuinely curious!"

"Don't worry Ed, we'll get you out of there." Roy could tell his window was closing, and silently willed the boy to say something useful that wouldn't get him immediately killed.

"Okay - hey, don't let Alphonse forget to feed the dogs, all right? They haven't had dinner since six." Ed rushed this last part before the phone was obviously ripped away from him and a gruff voice simply said 'One hour' to the sounds of Ed once again being tortured in the background, and then the receiver went dead.

Three phone calls.

The first, to Hawkeye. It was brief, informative, and soon full of rage bubbling over at both ends as they realized that Ed wasn't going to escape this one completely unscathed. She was to pick him up in fifteen minutes in her car while he phoned his bank, his second call, while he arranged to pick up ten thousand dollars straight - almost his whole account (he didn't have time to draw from military resources, since HQ was too far) - from the bank manager shortly, who was more than a little agitated at the hour and the transaction, but was obliged to comply with the order on account of Roy's involvement in the military.

The last, hesitantly. He knew he didn't have to worry about waking Alphonse up, but he didn't want to make the boy worry unnecessarily. Well, he supposed it wasn't unnecessary, so Roy dialed the number and hoped he could clear up some confusion.

"Hello?" The confused metallic voice on the other end answered, voice full of worry. "Ed?"

"No, Alphonse. It's Roy. Ed's been kidnapped, but we have it covered."

"Kidnapped?!" Alphonse gasped.

"Yes. I will fill you in once we retrieve him. Lieutenant Hawkeye is bringing in the local force. We'll get him back in one piece", Roy assured the boy, wishing his own words would convince him as well. "I have just one question."

"Yes?"

Roy realized how ridiculous he must sound as he asked the question with genuine intensity, but he didn't really care. "_Do you have dogs?"_

"No, sir", Alphonse replied, not the least bit miffed.

"Thank you, Alphonse. I'll call you and fill you in as soon as we get news."

"Thank you Colonel." Al said in a small voice, and Roy hung up, hurrying outside to jump in the car with Hawkeye.

"Any news?" She asked before speeding towards the bank.

"You said you got the local force?" He asked. She nodded, and he inquired, "Does that include the K-9 unit?"

"Sir?"

"Ed said something about dogs - I figured he means the K-9 unit, or else they hit him so hard that he now thinks he has dogs," Roy filled in, and a dark silence fell over both of them as they realized that with the gang's brutal history, that was actually a very, very real possibility.

"They must be fast on their feet."

"I'd think so. He said they hadn't eaten since six, so-"

"There's six of them?"

"Right, Lieutenant." Roy rushed out as they reached the bank, grabbed the money from the manager with a hurried thanks, and ran back to the car as it tore off towards old factory, where the 'exchange' would take place.

* * *

With fifteen minutes left to go until the set time, a plan was finally in place. Roy would dutifully do the exchange, no funny business; as soon as he had Edward safely out of the building and on route to the hospital for any contusions he might have suffered, the force would storm the building, and any criminal trying to escape would be set upon by the K-9 unit.

Five minutes left, and Roy nervously entered the abandoned factory, the local force being well-hidden and Riza ready to aid him in driving Ed to the nearest infirmary.

The doors creaked as Roy pushed his way through them, and as he entered a large room, a deep voice thronged towards him.

"Stop where you are. Take the money and slowly place it on the table in the center of the room, then back away twenty paces. We will then come out and count it - if you follow these instructions, you will receive your subordinate. If not, he will be shot at the first sign of trouble."

"How do I know he's still alive?" Roy shot out, the room a confusing mixture of echoes and destruction that served to his disadvantage.

"I'm here, Colonel," Ed's tired voice came from somewhere in the room that Roy couldn't pinpoint.

"Ed, what's the name of Pinako's granddaughter?" Roy called, making sure that Ed's voice wasn't simply an illusion or recording.

"Winry." Came the exhausted response, his voice cracking.

"Place the money on the table."

Roy did as he was told, and as a masked man came and counted the money, he gave a signal to his fellow criminals to let them know it was the right amount.

"We will now release your subordinate. He will remain in the middle of the room. Neither of you will move until we are out the door. We will have a gun on him at all times. Try anything and you loose both the boy and the money forever", the voice once again warned.

A figure suddenly came out from behind one of the broken machines that littered the room, pushing ahead of him one Edward Elric.

Looking back, the hardest thing in his life was to restrain from frying every single one of the criminals in the room the instant he saw Ed.

There was no bullshit about the way they handled their 'business', Roy realized as bile rose to his mouth.

Edward could hardly stand on his feet - or, rather, foot; both his automail limbs had been removed to restrain him, and he barely managed to stand upright with the help of a wooden pole that he grasped on to with his remaining hand in a desperate attempt to not meet with the floor. His clothes were tattered and torn all over; his pants looked as if some sort of animal had attacked them, and his flesh leg had blood oozing from what could only be knife stains in his upper thigh (Roy prayed they hadn't somehow nicked or severed the femoral artery, or Ed would never make it to the hospital), his platform shoes and socks had been ripped off and it looked as if they had made him walk across coals or something, because his foot had numerous burn marks on the top and there must be some on the bottom too, since Ed visibly winced every time he had to move.

His tanktop had been torn off, and his torso was covered with cigarette burn marks and bruises that covered his entire chest, ranging from blue to deep purple to a sickly green color, and from the way Ed's chest caved in Roy guessed that more than a few ribs had been broken in the process. On Ed's left arm there were two deep gauges that looked to be knife wounds.

Ed had two black eyes, and several bumps on his head that made his skull seem irregularly shaped. Hair had, in patches, been pulled out; the boy's usual trademark braid was loose. Both ears looked as if they had been boxed in several times, and his nose broken, as well as his fist (probably an attempt at self-defense) - the only thing Roy could think of other than death that the criminals couldn't do was cutting the boy's hair, which probably would have had the boy even more upset than the rest of the injuries combined.

Well, no, that wasn't true. Roy could think of a third thing they might have done, but so help him god, if they had even _thought_ about violating Ed like that, any chance at Roy becoming Fuhrer was out the window, because these fuckers were dead if they thought they would live if they had sexually assaulted Edward.

"Fullmetal", Roy finally managed to croak as the men were almost out of the room. Then it all went wrong.

A dog barked.

Suddenly, Edward was on the floor, a bullet in his right shoulder, and Roy was filled with an unfathomable rage greater than he had ever felt even in Ishvaal, and the fire in his blood was released through his fingertips as he snapped towards the group on his way towards Edward, and he felt confident later when he learned that he had given them all at least first-degree burns.

Upon reaching the frail boy, Roy crouched down and picked him up gingerly, knowing that anywhere he tried to pick him up from would hurt Ed.

Sometimes, there's no joy in being right.

The boy cried out in pain as his eyes glassed over, and soon Roy was running out the door as smoothly but quickly as his legs could carry him, and he and the boy were in the car, speeding off towards the hospital, Roy using his jacket to try and stop the bleeding from Ed's shoulder as he realized the bark that had startled the men must have been one of the dogs from the K-9 unit, since there were no living quarters anywhere near the factory to house a dog. The men must have realized the same thing - Roy was only surprised (and eternally grateful) that the bullet intended for Ed's heart had instead been lodged in his shoulder.

As Edward struggled to retain consciousness, he looked up at Roy with glassy eyes. He tried to speak but ended up coughing up blood, and the colonel, feeling more useless than he had ever felt in his life, looked to Riza helplessly. She looked at the boy with a pained expression before once more focusing on the road, and Roy tried to quietly calm the boy down, struggling to keep his voice from cracking as he told Ed not to talk.

The car sped on.

**Wow, that was a doozy! It's much too late at night to start the second chapter... I thought this was going to be a one-shot, but I guess it'll be a two-shot (maybe more if people really like it). It figures Ed would be so badly beaten up; can't you just imagine him sassing off to guys despite his limblessness and their possession of weapons? Anyway, pleeeeease review! My first FMA fanfic :3 Second chapter up soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! I wrote this one on the plane ride to Alaska to spend with my little sister. Well, technically, cousin, but shut up. Hope you enjoy (and, if you do, please review!)**

The boy was bleeding too much.

Roy looked down in desperate hopelessness at the short Elric in his arm as he and Hawkeye sped towards the nearest hospital, the clothes he had hurriedly pulled on barely an hour before now warm and sticky, seeming to taunt the colonel who was nearly delusional with stress, tiredness, and most of all, worry. Here was the boy's life, spilling into Roy's lap, and the man couldn't give it back to the young alchemist who was teetering on the edge of unconsciousness.

Roy desperately brainstormed ways to stop the bleeding, and the answer came from Riza as she quietly glanced over at blood pooling in Roy's lap from the recent gunshot and several of Ed's knife wounds that had re-opened during the excitement. Her voice was pained, revealing the deep concern for the boy that her face refused to show.

"You're not going to like it."

Roy looked up at her in confusion as she clarified, her voice breaking at the end.

"You need to – you need to burn them shut," she croaked. "You need to cauterize them, or else he'll bleed out before we even get to the hospital. It's another three minutes and he's about to pass out from blood loss."

Rage and pain and worry and despair made its way onto Roy's face as he looked down at the boy, whose expression broke Roy's heart. It was so small, and so terrified, and so damn _lost_ and while everything in the boy's eyes was pleading the colonel not to do it, not to add more pain, they both knew that if he didn't the chances of Ed making it out were close to nothing. Roy shut his eyes. He had come to save the boy, and was just going to end up giving him more pain. An angry tear leaked out of Mustang's eyes, and as he opened them, he looked at the boy he cradled.

"I'm so sorry, Edward", he croaked out in a whisper, and as Ed looked at him with horror overflowing in his eyes, Roy knew that this was harder than anything he had ever faced; he would rather face Ishvaal again than have to do this, and while he knew that was incredibly selfish, Roy felt such a burning sense that they boy belonged to him, and that he was his, and that he was supposed to protect him. And right now, causing Ed pain was the exact opposite of what protecting him would be… and yet, it fell into the category of protecting the boy's life, if not protecting his relationship with him.

He first turned to the gunshot wound in the back of Ed's shoulder, trying to carefully lie the boy over on his back. Ed didn't resist even though anyone could tell that he was terrified, because he knew that he was more terrified of leaving the world and the colonel and Al than of having a few more scars.

The bullet was still in the wound, but for lack of even a pair of tweezers, Roy knew that he had to cauterize the damn thing with the bullet still in it. He cringed at the thought of doctors slicing Ed's skin back open to retrieve the tiny piece of metal, and wondered if Ed would ever forgive him for what he was about to do.

It took Mustang three snaps to get a light flame on his fingertips since his hand was shaking so hard.

"I'm so, _so_ sorry, Ed," Roy apologized again in a raspy voice as he tried his best to wipe the wound of the blood surrounding it, and then placed the flame on the small red, leaking dot in the boy's shoulder.

Roy didn't think that he could cauterize the other wounds after he finished with the bullet wound. The bleeding had stopped, but it had taken ten seconds straight for the wound to be closed; the first three seconds Edward had been able to control his screams of agony, but after the first third of the process the boy couldn't stop the blood-curdling screams that forced themselves up, gurgling past his throat, sounds of pure agony, tears of pain streaming down his face. Roy's face found itself two waterfalls as well, out of rage and pain and sadness and curses at whatever god there might be that would let such an innocent boy who had been through so much already to suffer so much pain.

"No, NO_!_ _NO, PLEASE, STOP_!" The young alchemist begged as Roy rolled him over, steeling himself as best he could to do the same to the two re-opened knife wounds on the boy's leg and arm. "Please, Roy," Ed begged, and the colonel's mistake was to look the boy in the eyes as he said this. "Please, no more, don't do any more, I can't take it, I _can't_…" his pleas were broken by a sob, and Roy turned his head away in shame as he once more snapped his fingers and the screams began from his lap as he focused solely on his duty.

The pain seemed to be too much for Ed to bear, and the boy lost consciousness halfway through the last wound, both concerning and relieving Roy; concern because now his only reassurance that Edward was still alive was his staggered breathing. Relief because unconsciousness provided at least a small source of escape for the boy.

"Call Havoc," the colonel told his subordinate, and both heard how broken he was. "When we get to the hospital call him, and just tell him to pick up Alphonse, and to get to the hospital as fast as humanly possible. Then call the rest of the team… they should be here…"

Hawkeye nodded curtly, and her sleeve angrily brushed away the small traitor that escaped her brimming eyes.

* * *

They had wasted no time once they got to the hospital, swerving past several ambulances and running several red lights before screeching into the emergency parking, where nurses shuffled about in annoyance at the parking job that soon turned to horror and business when they saw the red-stained bundle lying unconscious in Roy's lap. A gurney was quickly presented and the young boy was carefully and quickly carted away. Mustang tried to follow, but found himself blocked by nurses muttering some nonsense about not being able to go in there.

"_Look",_ Roy growled threateningly, and while the nurses seemed taken aback they stood their ground. "He's my subordinate. I am his commanding officer. He was hurt on _my _watch, making him _my _responsibility. Now, unless you both want to loose your jobs, I highly suggest that you _get the fuck out of my way_."

The nurses both looked at each other, and the one who was obviously the senior sighed and crossed her arms. "We need information first, then we'll see what we can do."

Roy gritted his teeth and felt blood rise to his face, but anything short of two well-done nurses would leave him in the same place he was right now, and he figured this was as much as he was going to get.

"How did this happen?" The nurse asked as she whipped a pen and pad of paper from her inside pocket.

"He was doing some research work for the military. Some criminals captured him as their hostage. We got him away, but they shot him in the process. His name is Edward," Roy said quickly, and as the nurse scribbled furiously, she looked up at him in sudden alarm and suspicion.

"He looks no older than thirteen."

"Fifteen, actually", Roy told them, "but he looks younger because he's so short." A half-hearted smirk rose to his lips.

"Isn't he a little young to be in the military?"

He was growing impatient. "I assume you've heard of the Fullmetal Alchemist?"

Both nurses' eyes grew wide in sudden comprehension. "But, he doesn't have any automa-"

"You'd have to be pretty crappy medical personel to not notice that he was missing two limbs. That's where the automail would be, if he hadn't had it stolen," Roy said in agitation. "Can I see him now?"

The nurses brushed off the previous insult and looked at him. "That depends."

Roy was about to start torching the place when they continued: "Are you his legal guardian?"

He didn't hesitate. "Yes, I am. Anything else?"

The nurses handed him a clipboard with a pen attached to it and gave him directions to the emergency room where Ed was being operated on, making sure to stress that if he didn't do the paperwork he wouldn't be allowed back, and the sole reason that they were even making an exception like this was because he worked for the military. Roy took off at a sprint and Hawkeye followed him when he heard them stopping her.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but you can't proceed."

Roy stopped short and glared at them. "Let her through."

He could tell the nurses were loosing their patience, but he didn't give two shits. "Sir, unless she's also one of his guardians-"

"Yeah, she's my wife", he said coldly, and silently thanked whatever power there might be that both nurses were looking at him instead of his supposed spouse, because for all her military training nothing could prevent the look of shock and surprise and something else that Roy couldn't quite place. She soon had her face under control, though, and the nurses started to argue something again when she stepped in, a dark aura around her as she surprised even Roy with her sudden maternal manner.

"I swear to you two that if you don't let me pass", she said in a low warning growl, "so help me I might have to use _military intervention_ because _nothing _is keeping my husband and I from Edward - not even you."

The nurses seemed to have been able to handle Roy, but the sudden mama-bear I-will-kill-you-if-you-don't-let-me-see-my-child kind of look that Riza gave them seemed to both terrify them and evoke a sense of sympathy, and they silently let her pass and run alongside Roy to the E.R. without so much as a glance at either of their ring fingers - though any doubt in their mind about Roy and Riza's relationship seemed to vanish when he took her hand as they ran. He saw a slight blush and look of surprise on her face as he did so, but she caught on and didn't turn her head as he muttered, 'gotta be convincing'.

More than the nurses were convinced that there was something between the two, but neither gave it a second thought until later as they sprinted into the observation room with the clipboard of medical forms, taking a seat as Hawkeye called Havoc and the team and Roy filled out the paperwork without taking his eyes off the doctors prepping for surgery.

Prayers were sent up to some invisible force that the boy lived.

**Hope you liked it! Please review! I guess it's going to be a longer story than I thought (haha, whoops). Have a great day, lovelies!~**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow, it's been... way too long. I'm going to try and start writing and updating more especially with my other fics since it's a good outlet and my writing skills have improved a lot over the last year. Anyway, without further adieu, have some chapter three. **

* * *

The waiting room felt like hell on Earth.

Roy and Riza had long since ceased creating a rut in the linoleum floor from their pacing, and were currently sitting on a bench in the waiting room, crouching over paperwork. The gang had just arrived; Breda had been first, then Falman, Fuery, and lastly Havoc along with Alphonse, both sprinting down the hallway toward the rest of the group and ignoring any and all annoyed glares they received from the nurses. Everyone would have preferred to wait directly outside the O.R. to be closer to any urgent news, but Roy and Riza were only allowed to do so as Ed's guardians, and they both figured that it'd be better to be with friends and explain the situation to Alphonse.

Also, the fact persisted that they were neither Ed's real guardians nor married, but that was pushed aside for now. At least, mostly. When a nurse had come up and called them "Mr. and Mrs. Mustang", everyone had difficulty hiding their stares. Riza quickly explained the situation, taking Mustang's hand for emphasis and making him blush almost imperceptibly. Of course, the now cigarette-less Havoc might as well have been Hawkeye herself for his detection skills, and seeing Roy's blush, shot the Colonel a sly grin and low-key thumbs-up. Roy rolled his eyes, and the normal action felt out of place in the sterile room they were seated in.

That was a little while ago; as Roy shielded his eyes from the morning sun cutting through the glass doors and glanced up at the clock, he noticed grimly that Ed had been in surgery for a little over an hour and a half now. No news had come since the boy had been wheeled into the room; perhaps it was for the better, Roy figured.

It meant Edward hadn't died yet.

Roy shook his head furiously, banishing the traitorous suggestion from his mind. No. Edward Elric was stronger than that. Edward Elric would _not _die. He would not.

The colonel sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, fighting an oncoming headache at the endless amount of forms on the hospital's clipboard. He felt Riza shift closer to him, looking over his shoulder at the paperwork.

"Hawkeye, I can assure you, _I am doing my paperwork_."

Riza gave a short, tired laugh. "Believe me, Colonel, I'm sure you are. The irony isn't lost on me, either. I was just wondering if you wanted me to take over for a bit - you're going to wear yourself out trying to list every single time Ed has been hospitalized."

Roy looked at the additional two sheets of paper he had requested from the front desk. The offending question had been a supposedly simple one to answer.

_Name any significant injuries the patient has ever suffered, along with any insignificant injuries within the past three months. _

Apparently, it had been a busy three months for the Elric brothers.

Roy had listed the obvious, to begin with: the automail. Then Havoc had chimed in with the time Scar had beaten the brothers up; Riza had reminded him of the gang of theives a while back who had left Fullmetal with a scar on his right calf; Alphonse recalled the recent battles with Gluttony, Envy, and the like; and, before Roy knew it, he had two full sheets full of bruises and contusions from Ed's childhood to the present day. And that was excluding everything insignificant or not in the past three months.

Maybe he _could_ use a break...

Roy handed the clipboard to Riza with a grateful smile and a deep sigh, and Alphonse sauntered over to Riza to help her with the more private things like Ed's social security number and the like. Hawkeye looked over at the bags under her superior's eyes and gave a weak grin. "Try and get some sleep, sir." He tried to protest, but was cut short by another, more stern command. "Shut up and do it, you look like crap."

Roy tried not to blush as the rest of the gang snickered and Alphonse looked at the lieutenant in mild surprise. Realizing that she wasn't going to give in and that arguing would just make her agitated, he reluctantly complied, slumping down in his chair and resting his feet on the coffee table in front of him. He looked at his second in command with a slightly threatening glare. "I trust I don't need to tell you that I'm going to be royally pissed if you don't wake me up at any new development."

Riza rolled her eyes as she continued to fill out forms. "Regardless, you just did. I'll wake you up if Edward so much as breaks wind, sir. Now try to catch a bit of shut-eye." She glanced across at Havoc, Fuery, Falman, and Breda with the stern eyes of a superior officer. "You too, boys. You're no use to anyone tired, and you'll need to be alert when Ed comes out of surgery."

The others complied out of drowsiness more than anything else, not having had their usual five-am coffee fix. The four men soon formed a massive pile of unconsciousness, with Fuery looking rather uncomfortable in his position under Breda.

Roy followed suit, closing his eyes and snuggling into his leather jacket. After a few minutes the rumbling snores of his subordinates could be heard across the coffee table, though he himself was having difficulty drifting off to sleep. He tried for a half hour to find comfort in the realm of unconsciousness, but every time he started to drift off he was suddenly jolted awake by the haunting image of Ed limping across the floor with only an arm and a leg, or the terrifying screams the boy let loose as Roy tried to keep the boy from bleeding out in the car.

After several more unsuccessful attempts at sleep, Roy felt a gentle hand guide his head to the side to rest on something cushioned. He opened a single eye drowsily, and felt his cheeks warm up a little at the warm smile Riza gave him as she set the clipboard of finalized paperwork down and brought his head to her shoulder, her spare jacket serving as a makeshift pillow. She herself gave a yawn and settled down into the bench a bit, moving the jacket-pillow to Roy's shoulder and resting her own head on it before mumbling a muffled explanation.

"Don't be so stubborn, Roy. It's okay to let other people... _*yawn*..._see you concerned for someone..." She was soon breathing evenly and deeply, her head relaxed on Roy's shoulder. He closed his own eyes and gave a small chuckle, mumbling something drowsily that he barely registered saying.

"I suppose there's no shame... in taking a nap...with a beautiful...woman..."

Only Alphonse, eternally awake, witnessed Riza's half-conscious blush, and their hands as they subconsciously clasped together for comfort.

* * *

**Whoops looks like I let some shipping in here after all**

**Starting on the next chapter now. It's a bit difficult to type since my parents just dropped an 80-pound TV on three of my fingers on my right hand. Whoops**

**Please review~**


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